It Came As a Shock
by RogueHunter06
Summary: She hadn't expected to care about him. Nor had she expected the womanizing Warden to care about her. But her feelings for him had crept up on her, and he had been careful to tell her exactly what she wanted to hear. *A collection of Aedan Cousland/Morrigan gift fics from my Together universe, beginning with Morrigan's POV. Can be read as stand-alones. M for lemons*
1. Chapter 1

_Author's Note: As mentioned, this is a glimpse into Morrigan's POV from my Dragon Age story, Together or Not At All. I don't think you will need to have read that to enjoy this, but you might understand some of the events and people mentioned more fully. As this is a one-shot that's sort of lifted from the story, it's not fully structured as a chapter. It more reflects Morrigan's thoughts and some of her memories of past events, and then ends with a current event. The end bit takes place during Chapter 40 in the story. For those that follow my story that are reading this, Chapter 41 will be delayed a week because I was finishing this._

_This was done as a request by a few readers who have wanted to see what Morrigan was thinking, or see more of her and Aedan's romance. If people like it and ask for more, I might add other glimpses into her POV (or Aedan's) into this story later on. Anyway, hope you all enjoy, and I'd love to hear what you think - **PLEASE REVIEW!**_

_Disclaimer: I don't own Morrigan, the other DA characters, or the bits of her dialogue that came straight from the game. Everything else is mine, however! Also, there are lemons at the end. You have been warned if you don't like them._

It Came As a Shock

Events had not exactly gone according to her plan since leaving the Wilds, Morrigan reflected as she awaited Aedan in their room at Tapster's. Not at all according to the plan she had concocted for herself, actually. Initially she had thought her reluctance to leave the Wilds, her resentment towards her mother for making her go, had been because she thought she would hate it, hate those she travelled with. She had expected they would revile her and remove her from their group as soon as possible.

Now, however, she realized that her true fear, deep down where she had not analyzed it or admitted it to herself before, had not been that she would hate the experience. No, she had been more afraid that she would enjoy it far too much, enjoy the company of the intriguing dark-haired male Warden far too much. That it – that he - would shake her to her core. And that was the fear that had come true.

She was no longer the woman who believed in power and survival only, who held only disdain about caring for others. No, now she had not only her handsome Warden that she cared about far more than she'd expected, but a woman she had come to view as a friend, perhaps even a sister. And she had found herself changing, doing things she would not normally condone or viewed as impractical, simply because it made them happy. Both of them were far too compassionate, too willing to jump into danger for the sake of others, which meant she had to go along with their plans, despite her better judgment, if she did not want anything to happen to them. At least they were slightly more practical than others in the group, though.

The rest of their party she cared little for; they were all useful in their own way, but it would not grieve her in the slightest should something happen to any of them. But it _would_ upset Aedan and Ayla, and for that reason alone, she found herself ensuring that they all lived through their experiences. She'd even helped that fool Templar simply because her friend, her sister, would be devastated if something happened to him. Surprisingly, she'd found him more tolerable of late; Ayla's love for him, and his love for her, oddly seemed to be making him less of an idiot. Most of the time, at any rate.

But all of that was not even the worst of it. No, the worst of it all was she'd fallen prey to a trap she'd told herself she was above; one that she swore she would never succumb to. And it was all because of Aedan; that damnably fascinating, intelligent, provoking, insufferably smug man who was impressive in so many ways.

She had gone into the journey planning to seduce him, of course, as ordered by her mother. He was the far more acceptable of the two choices she had, after all. But she hadn't expected to care about him. Nor had she expected the womanizing Warden to care about her. But her feelings for him had crept up on her, and he had been careful to tell her exactly what she wanted to hear. So it had come as a shock to find she'd fallen in love with Aedan Cousland, and he loved her in return.

She had not realized it, not fully, until the moment he'd fallen in battle against the broodmother. Her own reaction to seeing his fall had alarmed and terrified her. The grief and pain had ripped through her, and she had screamed in denial without even realizing she had done it. A saving rage had quickly followed; a desire to obliterate the darkspawn that had wounded him. The rage had powered a lightning spell greater and more destructive than any she had ever attempted before; there had been nothing left of the enemies around him but ash.

She had hurried to his side immediately after that, drawing upon all the magic that she had learned from the meddlesome old woman to heal his grievous wound after she had removed the offending sword. When she had first asked the old woman to teach her the art of healing, she had claimed it was merely to make herself more useful, and because she was certainly capable of performing any feat a Circle mage could. But in that moment, she admitted it might have also been driven by a desire to save Aedan's life if need be. Because, she realized then, she did not want to lose him. Not now, not ever.

She had been badly shaken by that incident and the realization of the true depth of her feelings for him. She, who had always been so disdainful of love, so sure that it was worthless. So sure that her sister Ayla, despite how highly she regarded her normally, was an utter fool for falling prey to it. And yet, she had finally been unable to deny it, unable to deny that the growing feelings she'd been trying to suppress were, in fact, that same useless emotion. She loved her irritatingly handsome Warden, against her own nature, against her own wishes and desires.

When he'd finally awoken later, in the corner of that room down in the Deep Roads where Alistair had ordered them to retreat to, his head still in her lap as she waited for him to regain consciousness after the healing spells both she and Wynne had applied, she had received yet another shock. In the unguarded moment when he'd seen her face immediately upon waking, he had smiled at her with such warmth and _love_ in his eyes, she'd realized he returned her feelings, in spite of his claims otherwise.

She'd had her suspicions about his feelings for her before then, certainly, but any time she'd brought it up, he'd always been quick to dismiss the notion that he had any deeper feelings for her. He had always manipulated her into believing he was only interested in a physical relationship; that all he wanted was what she had initially asked for: sex, lust, and passion. She should have known better, however. One of Aedan's many talents was his silver tongue, his ability to easily guide others into believing – and doing – whatever he wanted.

In that moment, seeing his true, unguarded feelings for the first time, she realized he'd only been telling her what she wanted to hear. He'd allowed her to believe that lust was all there was between them, so she would not flee before his trap closed. And she had not, not before it was too late, as she now knew it was.

"You are a fool," she had told him sharply, angry and frightened, as he'd sat up and faced her. "You are a fool and so am I."

He hadn't denied it; he'd merely sighed and fixed her with a long look, his emotions back to being guarded and unreadable. "Are you referring to the fact that I lo –"

"Do not say it!" She'd snapped at him, cutting his words off, her heart pounding with anxious tension in her chest. "You should not feel that way about me. And I . . . have allowed myself to become . . . too close. This is a weakness, for us both."

He'd nodded, slowly. "It can be a weakness, if you let it," he'd responded simply. "It can also be a strength, however."

She'd shaken her head frantically at him, terrified as she could never remember being. "It cannot, and this is for your own good. I would not . . . I am not like other women. I am not worth your distraction. And you . . . are not worth mine." Though she'd said those words, she knew she did not truly believe them. Deep in her heart, she thought he was worth everything, and that was exactly why she could not allow this to happen.

He'd taken her hands in his, ignoring her attempts to pull away, and looked deep into her eyes with his stormy grey gaze she found so annoyingly appealing. "Morrigan . . . I know you are not like other women. That is why I feel about you the way that I do. And you are absolutely worth my distraction; I am completely certain of it."

She had not known what to say in the face of his conviction; he'd shaken her all over again. She wanted to push him away, but she could not find the words. "I . . . you are impossible," she'd replied at last. "Have it your way. But I will tell you truly now: you will regret it in the end."

"I won't, and you will never make me believe that," he'd answered implacably, before raising her hands to kiss them. He'd gone on to enquire what had happened while he had been unconscious, changing the subject and ignoring it for the remainder of the night thereafter.

The very next day, however, while the others had allowed them time alone together in their secluded corner of the room for Aedan to rest and recover, he'd dug something out of his pack and brought it back to present to her.

When he'd handed the beautiful, elaborate golden mirror to her with that warm smile on his face, she hadn't known what to say; she'd turned it over in her hands, studying it and realizing its similarity to the one she had told him about before. That was one of the things that had earlier endeared him to her; the fact that he had actually asked her questions about her life, had wanted to know more about her instead of limiting his interest to just the one thing that most men seemed to want from her. To find that he had not only asked but had listened closely and, more than that, had remembered, had made her heart swell with warmth for him all over again. Had she not already been in love with him before, that would have been the deciding moment, she felt sure.

"It is . . . just the same as the mirror which Flemeth smashed on the ground, so long ago," she had said softly, looking up at him, hoping she was at least somewhat disguising the wonder she felt. "It is incredible that you found one so like it. I am uncertain what to say. You must wish something in return, certainly."

He had shaken his head in return, his eyes softening. "Not at all. It's a gift, Morrigan, because it pleases me to please you."

"I have . . . never received a gift," she admitted, not knowing what else to say. What did one say in circumstances such as these? It was not one of the many things she'd been taught. "Not one that did not also come with a price attached."

"Well . . ." he'd shrugged, looking slightly uncomfortable and embarrassed, as he always did before he revealed something of his true feelings, she'd noticed. "I would not attach a price to a gift for the woman that I . . . love."

Despite her qualms about the way they both felt, and her fear of the emotion in general, she had felt inexplicably happy upon hearing him say that, even as she'd frowned at him. "Do not say that."

He'd merely smiled at her in return, sweeping her his best courtly bow. "As you command, my lovely witch."

He was impossible, and maddening, and yet she did not want to lose him, now more than ever, she had thought to herself. So she had reached into her own pack and produced the ring that she had been debating with herself about giving him for a long time now. "I have something for you, as well. 'Tis a ring." She'd handed the simple ring to him, the one made of a twisted loop of rosewood, the grain of which seemed to constantly shift and change as one looked at it. Noting the widening of his eyes as he'd taken it from her, she'd continued before he could say anything further, "Now, before you get any foolish notions, let me explain. Flemeth once gave me the ring because it allowed her to find me no matter where I went, in case I was captured by hunters. I disabled its power as soon as we left the Wilds. Recently, however, I thought to change it. Now, I will be able to find whoever wears it, instead."

He'd been putting the ring on various fingers, trying to find the best fit, but he looked up at her now with a merry gleam in his eyes. "So, you want to always know where I am, then? To be able to find me? Do you think you'd miss me if I wasn't around?"

She had snorted in disdain, doing her best to keep her lips from twitching with the amusement she felt. She'd found herself doing this often around both him and Ayla – they both thought themselves rather amusing and sometimes they succeeded at being so. "I doubt it," she'd replied coolly, noticing that he'd remained unperturbed. "It is not to track you, you understand. I believe you are too important to risk. If you were to get captured, however, it would be far easier to find you with this."

He'd nodded in reply, adopting an air of great seriousness, though she could tell the gleam had not gone away. "So it's entirely for practical notions, then? Not even a little bit . . . romantic?"

She'd sighed in exasperation, and considered making another cutting remark, before going as close to the truth as she'd dared. "I . . . have no desire to see us part company so soon. Not unless we wish to, that is," she'd amended. When a wide grin had split his face at this remark, she had continued hastily, "Do not read more into it than is there. You have supplied me with equipment; certainly this is not so very different, is it?"

His grin had turned insufferably smug by this point, as it was wont to do at times, as he replied airily, "Oh, if you say so. It's not at all a present because you love me, then." He'd finally ended up putting the ring itself on, and studied it on his hand for a moment before looking up at her, his face entirely serious as he'd said quietly, "Thank you for the gift, Morrigan."

She could deal better with him when he wasn't being serious, she'd decided, suddenly uncomfortable. And was she actually blushing, of all things? "You . . . are welcome," she'd replied quietly, as she wrapped the mirror he'd given her and tucked it carefully away. "Perhaps it will be useful, some day."

He had merely nodded in response to that before kissing her with a passion that had taken her breath away; but given where they were, and the presence of the others in the same room, they had not gone further than that. They'd had no real opportunity to be alone since then as they had gone on to find the Anvil of the Void before exiting the Deep Roads as rapidly as possible. So now she was waiting for him to come back from the dwarven Assembly, allowing them an opportunity to be truly alone for the first time since she'd realized how she felt about him.

But what was she going to do once she had him alone? She did not know. She wanted him badly, but at the same time, she was still utterly terrified of this love she held for him. This . . . _dependency_ she had on him and this need for him to be alive and well. The whole thing was so very foreign to her. She'd declined to wait downstairs with the others, hoping that she would have time to decide her course of action when Aedan finally did return, but she'd had no luck so far. And the sound of the heavy, booted footsteps coming towards the door told her she was out of time.

The door opened and Aedan came through, looking incredibly weary, still dressed in his battered, dirty armor, as he'd gone straight from the Deep Roads to the Assembly of the dwarves. His face lit up when he saw her pacing back and forth in the middle of the room, waiting for him. "Morrigan, why didn't you wait downstairs with the others?" he asked, crossing the room to her as he closed the door behind him.

She sniffed, trying to ignore the fact that her heart rate increased at the sight of him. "Why should I wish to be down in a noisy tavern with drunken dwarves?"

"Oh, I don't know," he replied, grinning. "Because our friends are down there as well?" When she rolled her eyes, he went on, "You could at least have spent some time together with Ayla. She is your friend, is she not?"

Morrigan shrugged, not denying it. "Perhaps I did not wish to see that fool Templar slobbering all over her." When Aedan sighed and shook his head, though he was unable to stifle a smile at her description, she finally decided to tell him the true reason. "Or, perhaps . . . I merely wished some time alone with you, as we so rarely get any time alone together. I . . ."

She was startled, a muffled gasp coming from her, when he cut off her words with a kiss. It was hard, hungry, and heated, and he slammed her into the wall of the room with the force of his ardour, but she cared not. As soon as the wall was at her back, she returned the kiss in equal measure, welcoming the flare of heat his touch always awakened within her. She wrapped her legs tightly around him, forcing their bodies closer together, gripping his head tightly with one hand, his shoulder with the other as she devoured his mouth with hers, sending light, tingling shocks of her lightning magic through him. She loved the little growls and moans that never failed to elicit from him. She may not share her affections as publicly as her sister did with _her_ Warden, but she had no reservations about anything they did in private.

When it seemed her lungs must burst for want of air, he pulled his mouth from hers, breathing deeply, and moved to her neck, sucking hard on the skin there. He pressed his nose against her neck briefly and breathed in deeply. "You smell so good," he groaned against her skin, and the rough sound of his voice heated her blood yet further. He jerked his head up, looking suddenly guilty. "Ah . . . perhaps I should bathe."

She could not help but smile as she realized he _was_ still completely filthy from their weeks of travel in the Deep Roads. "I did have a bath drawn up for you," she pointed out, indicating the steaming tub in the corner she had ordered the dwarves to prepare for him. "You might have noticed had you bothered to look. There is food on the table as well."

A wide smile spread across his face. "My lovely . . ." He kissed her neck again, nibbling on it briefly, moving to the other side as he continued, "lovely . . . witch." That was another thing she'd always liked about him; rather than using witch as a scornful insult for her, as most did, he used it as a term of endearment. "You do think of absolutely everything, don't you?" He finished with a long, slow, tender kiss, that suffused her body with a heady warmth before he set her back down, pulling away.

The intensity of that warmth, the shattering intimacy of that last kiss, the way his eyes flared silver as he looked at her with equal parts love and lust; it was all too much for her. She felt overwhelmed, panicked, frightened. Her heart was beating much too fast and her palms were sweating as he moved towards the bath, unbuckling his armor. "Now that I've gotten you all dirty, you will have to bathe again," he said, turning to smile at her with wicked invitation.

Ordinarily, she would have been happy to respond to his invitation in kind, but it was too much right now. It was too intense, too frightening. She just could not deal with it. "I – no. I do not wish to. I am . . . not in the mood." She was, her body protested. It was aching with longing for him, but she ignored it. Her emotional distress was greater.

His eyebrows shot up, his fingers stalling briefly on his armor before resuming their task, the pieces falling to the ground. "What do you mean? You certainly seemed to be in the mood for it a moment ago."

"Well, I am not any longer," she snapped, annoyed that he was pressing the matter. " I do not leap at your command like a trained mabari warhound."

He had just stripped off the cotton tunic he wore beneath his armor, leaving his well-muscled chest bare, which caused both an ache in her loins and one in her heart at the sight of the scar the healing had been unable to prevent; the one that showed she'd nearly lost him. He looked up at her and frowned, confusion etched across his face. "What in the Maker's name brought this on?"

"I warned you, did I not?" she demanded, trying to hide the fear and pretend she was only angry at him, but she did not know whether she was fully successful. "I told you that this was a weakness that was driving me mad. And yet you insisted."

He crossed the room back over to her, now wearing only his cotton leggings, the concern in his gaze making her realize she had not fooled him at all. "Why are you so frightened?" he asked her softly, taking her hands in his own.

She gazed back at him helplessly, not wanting to reveal her vulnerability and yet finding herself unable to hold back. "'Tis all so . . . unexpected," she admitted at last. "I have no experience with any of it. And yet I find myself wanting it. Hungering for it. For you." Her anxiety grew, overwhelming her when he didn't say anything immediately, causing her to blurt out, "That is not right, is it? That is not how a normal woman acts? I can see it in your eyes. Release me. Tell me that you wish to end this. Make me believe you and I . . . will be grateful."

"No," he snapped, his face darkening with a sudden anger. "I will not. If you do not wish to be with me any longer, Morrigan, then _you_ have to be the one to end it. I will not end this, I don't want it to end; I have no intention of letting you go unless you run from me."

They stared at one another for a long moment, the anger slowly fading from his face when she did not immediately reject him. She, however, still felt both panicked and terrified, like a deer trapped in the sight of a wolf and unable to move for fear of what would happen. It was not a sensation she was accustomed to, and she hated herself in that moment for feeling it, and him for making her feel it.

And yet, though part of her wanted to be able to tell him she would end this, that she would run from him because she no longer wanted him, she still could not bring herself to say it. She had demanded he release her because she did not have the strength to pull herself free, she realized. "You miserable, selfish bastard," she choked out at last, admitting defeat. "You will regret this. And so will I. And . . . perhaps that is how it must be." He would come to hate her in the end, she knew, once he found out the reason she'd truly come along.

"I am selfish," he agreed, closing the distance between them, his hands going to her waist and pulling her closer. "Too selfish to ever give you up unless you make me. And no matter how many times you say it, you will never convince me that I will regret it."

"You are . . . completely impossible and utterly maddening," she sighed, giving in as she swayed closer to him. His hands slid up her back and he pulled her in for another fiery kiss. The kiss was so much better without the barrier of his armor between their bodies, when she could feel the hard, insistent pulse of his need pressed against her, so close to where her own body throbbed for him.

"And you love me for it," he murmured when he pulled back, smiling at her when she didn't disagree with him. "Now, are you going to join me in the bath willingly, or must I carry you there?"

She started in surprise when she realized he'd managed to slip her hood up above her head in preparation to take it off, and smiled. "Well, I suppose if I am getting undressed, I have little choice, do I?"

"No, you do not," he agreed, removing the hood and its attached piece of tunic with her assistance. In short order, they had one another undressed between heated kisses and caresses, and though she reached for him, noticing how aroused he already was, he backed away from her towards the tub. "I would like to be at least a little cleaner for you first," he told her, grinning even as his eyes blazed silver as they swept over her naked body. He stepped in the large brass tub and sat down, the groan he made as he sank into the hot water utterly appealing.

She sashayed towards him, putting extra sway into her hips as she went, noticing with utter feminine pride how his eyes followed her every movement, though he was trying to wash himself hastily at the same time. When she reached the tub at last, she climbed in and sank down, straddling his legs, her upper body only inches from his. She took the cloth from him. "Allow me," she breathed, loving the hitch in his breath as she rocked slightly on his lap.

But she did not move the few inches it would take to impale herself on him; not just yet. Instead, she lathered up the cloth with soap, and slowly rubbed it over every inch of his torso, cleaning him very slowly and very thoroughly. She rinsed the soap off before kissing, licking, and sucking the areas she'd just cleaned. When he reached for her, tried to hurry her up and tempt her with his own caresses, she knocked him back with a light blast of magic, and he smirked, leaning back and allowing her to continue, though his breathing was growing ragged and his chest was heaving.

Every so often, she would move forward that little bit so that her burning core would just brush up against the length of his erection, which was rock hard at this point. The contact would cause him to shudder and moan, and she was getting very close to the point of no return herself, but she wanted him to beg for it. Her body ached for the touch of his hands and mouth, but she knew he ached to touch her even more, so she denied them both for the moment.

"Morrigan," he rasped out, his head tilted back as she brushed her hands over the rippling muscles of his abdomen, trailing them down the thin line of his dark hair to his manhood. "Morrigan, please . . ." He let out a low, almost inhuman noise when she brushed her soap-slicked hand over him. The sound made her own body throb with insistent need, as she welcomed that heavy, molten feeling low in her abdomen. "Morrigan," he gasped as she stroked her hand over him again, "I'm begging you . . ."

"Well, if you are begging, then . . ." she smiled slyly, trying to ignore how breathless she felt herself. She let him go, before she braced herself on her shoulders and sank down on him in one fluid movement. He growled as she moaned, an incredible satisfaction flowing through her as he filled her.

When she halted for a moment, savouring the sensation of him inside her, he launched into action, claiming her mouth savagely. His hands were suddenly everywhere, rolling her nipple between his fingers, squeezing her breasts, her buttocks, trailing over her, his fingers unerringly finding her most sensitive spot and stroking slowly, then faster. Her hips jerked and she let out a strangled cry, watching as he pulled back and a smug grin spread over his face at the sound.

That was all it took to push her into action herself; she began riding him fast and hard, rolling and twisting her hips as her own hands and mouth were everywhere on him. He met her stroke for stroke, his hips rising up to crash against hers. They duelled fiercely for control as need built within them both, as she felt herself began to teeter on the edge, her body tightening around him. As she felt herself sliding ever closer to that edge, she nipped at his earlobe and whispered, "I do love you, Aedan, my Warden."

She leaned back to meet his eyes, wide and burning with need, as he thrust hard into her one last time and she felt him release deep within her as she finally slipped over the edge into an explosion of pleasure. "Morrigan, my love," he moaned into her ear as she collapsed on top of him, and they both went limp from their release.

Later, in the bed, after they had spent themselves in each other's arms once more, he chuckled softly beneath her. "I think I was supposed to go back down to re-join the others. I suppose it is far too late now."

"'Tis much too late, and I am not nearly finished with you yet," she informed him. If she was unable to part from him, she might as well make use of their time together, she decided.

"Oh?" he grinned, a teasing light in his eyes as he brushed back her hair. "By all means, use me as much as you would like, my beautiful witch. I am yours to command."

"I will, " she assured him, smiling in spite of herself. "In a few more moments. " She hesitated before going on softly, "About the request I made of you before we came to Orzammar . . ."

He raised his head a little bit further, meeting her gaze steadily. "About confronting your mother, do you mean? Don't worry, I've not changed my mind. When we are back in Redcliffe and the Arl is preparing for the Landsmeet, I will go to confront her directly."

"You should not go alone, though," she warned him, her heart seizing with worry for him. "My mother is dangerous. I cannot accompany you, but I will speak to Ayla. Since . . . we are friends, perhaps she would be willing to help also."

"And then talk Alistair into it, too?" Aedan asked, raising a brow at her.

"Well, I am reluctant to admit it, but he _would_ be useful," she admitted begrudgingly. "Besides, though he bears no love for me, he would not allow Ayla to go into danger without him."

"That is true," Aedan agreed, his expression unreadable again, as it so often was, which frustrated her to no end. "Well, if it will make you feel better, speak to Ayla about it, then. If she agrees, I will take her with me to see Flemeth when we get back to Redcliffe."

Giving in to a moment of weakness, she caressed his cheek gently and kissed him tenderly, pulling back to see a look of shock and wonder on his face. "Thank you. For . . . agreeing to put yourself in danger to protect me. No one has ever . . . thank you."

He smiled, his whole face glowing with sudden warmth. "I will always protect you, Morrigan."

She nearly gasped with the flood of warmth that statement elicited in her, even as she felt sudden panic. What if the Blight claimed this Warden she had grown to love so dearly, despite her best efforts? What if he died trying to protect _her_, of all things? "I . . . you should not be so . . ." she exclaimed, panicked. "You have no idea what will happen in days to come, to make such promises."

"You are right," he agreed again, his face softening as he stroked her back soothingly. "I don't know what will happen. I do know, however, that as long as I am alive, I will keep that promise."

Uncertain of what to say in the face of such a declaration, she finally answered, "Then . . . I will do my best to keep you alive, as well. For as long as I am able."

He smiled. "Thank you, my love. Now, I think I need to sleep before you make use of me again."

"Yes," she nodded, "perhaps that is best. You look weary." She laid her head down on his chest as he pulled her tighter to him, settling down to sleep. She would, she vowed to herself, keep him alive through this Blight. Even if he despised her in the end for it, once he discovered why she had come with him, it would not matter, because at least he would be alive. Even if nothing else went to her plans, she would get both Wardens through the defeat of the archdemon, alive and well, for her sake and for her sister's. That was the only plan that mattered anymore.


	2. I Still Do

_A/N: This is a gift fic written for the Cynical Prince, winner of the 150th review gift fic. With permission, I have posted it as the second "chapter" of this story, though it's really more of a one-shot in a similar vein to the previous one. Here is the prompt for it:_

_Aedan has been through hell in Morrigan's absence, that spark that drove him to be an inspiration left him when Morrigan did, but he still did his duty to Ferelden. Now, years after her departure, they meet again as she prepares to embark on a journey into places unknown through the Eluvian. However, despite everything telling him to stay behind, he follows his heart and meets his son for the first time. (Many feels, much fluff)._

_Now, I tweaked the gift fic some from this prompt, also with permission, in order to fit it in with the "Aylaverse", and to fit it in with my own plot bunnies as to what happens to Aedan and Morrigan from the Together or Not at All story down the road. This might still end up being A/U from where the sequels go, but at this point this is where their story is going._

_Just a couple of lines from a song that prompted the title:_

_It's not like you didn't know that_

_I said I love you and I swear I still do_

_Hope you all enjoy the one-shot! Please review!_

I Still Do

As soon as he'd gotten word that Morrigan had been badly injured in the Inquisition's fight against the Magister Corypheus, Aedan had put together a diplomatic envoy in record time and left Denerim. So far as Anora and anyone else knew, he'd taken troops to help the Inquisition with the clean-up and aftermath, and finally establish diplomatic ties with them now that they'd proven they were a force to be reckoned with. And he would do that, of course, but his real reason for going was to see for himself that the woman he loved was all right.

He'd been intending on visiting her at the Inquisition for months now, ever since she'd sent word that she had left the Orlesian court for Skyhold. But things had been so chaotic, what with the breach, Corypheus, and the lingering effects of the mages and Templars fighting one another, that he'd put it off. Now, he sincerely regretted it; what would he have done if Morrigan hadn't survived the battle, if the last time he'd ever seen her had been that stolen moment at the last Orlesian ball he'd attended? He would never have been able to live with himself, he knew, and he vowed he'd never go so long without visiting her again, no matter what else was going on.

Their relationship in the years since the Blight had ended had been far from ideal, though he still wouldn't trade it for anything; by the time he'd regained consciousness after the battle with the Archdemon, she'd already left. He'd been afraid that she had truly run away, even after her promise to see him when she could; but a few weeks later he'd received a message from her, and not long after that, he'd found a reason to leave Denerim and go see her. Anora had been content enough with the arrangement of sending him out on diplomatic missions while she remained behind to rule from the castle in Denerim; occasionally she would accompany him on the more sensitive outings, but more often than not, she was happy to remain behind while he travelled. That arrangement had made it easy enough to see Morrigan on a semi-regular basis that first year.

But then, not long after she'd given birth to their son, she'd stopped sending word of where she was. He'd had the good fortune to be there when Kieran was born, and though he hadn't known what to expect of this child of theirs who carried the soul of an old god, he'd been relieved to see a perfectly normal, healthy baby boy. He'd been able to visit the two of them for a good week after Kieran's birth before he'd had to return to Denerim. It had been one of the best weeks of his life; for a brief time, he'd actually felt like they were a family. But then, he'd returned to Denerim while she had moved on, and he had heard nothing from her as to where she ended up.

It hadn't been entirely unusual for a month to go by before she contacted him, so at first, he didn't worry. But once two months had gone by and she had sent no word, he'd begun to panic. Either something had happened to her, or she'd finally decided that she was going to truly run away from him. He'd been equal parts concerned and furious, not knowing if she'd been killed or deliberately wasn't contacting him, but either way, his world was dark because she was no longer in it.

So he'd sent word to everyone he could trust with the task, to keep an eye out for any sign of her. Eventually, word had come that she'd been spotted with the Dalish, and he'd immediately set out to find her once he'd come up with a satisfactory reason to leave. That time he'd used the excuse of going to visit friends that he knew would cover for him if Anora ever asked. He'd finally caught up to her with the help of others who were looking into what she'd been up to, reaching her just as she'd activated the Eluvian mirror.

By the time he'd found her at the mirror, it had been six months since he'd last seen her, the longest they'd ever been apart since they'd met. He had missed her even more than he'd thought he would, so he'd been both miserable and furious with her for just leaving him without any word, but even still, he'd been struck dumb by the sight of her. Striker, traitor that he was, had just gone bounding right up to her, pleased as could be, while he'd followed at a much slower pace.

She'd been petting Striker, but as he came up to her, she rose up slowly, her expression unreadable. "Aedan, you came looking for me," she'd said softly.

"Of course I did," he'd growled at her, the fury in him bubbling up over the misery as he stopped in front of her, only a few feet separating them. Part of him had still wanted to hold her, in spite of being furious with her, but he'd stubbornly ignored the impulse. "At first I was worried sick that something had happened to you when you didn't send word. Then, when I heard you were perfectly fine and researching this Eluvian, I had to find out _why._ Why did you break your promise to me?"

"I did not," she'd replied evenly, her calm only increasing his fury with her. "I told you I would be yours when we had the opportunity to meet. I did not say that I would always inform you of what I was doing and where I was going. After Kieran was born, I discovered that my mother was still searching for us, and she was getting closer. I needed to find a way to keep him out of her clutches. This is the way that I can keep him safe –" she nodded at the mirror behind her – "and you cannot follow."

His fury had evaporated rapidly upon hearing that, and understanding why she hadn't contacted him. She was right that she hadn't promised to always tell him where she was; he'd just assumed that she would. And she must have decided not to contact him for the same reason that Alistair had told him she'd left before he'd awakened after the battle; she'd been afraid he'd try to talk her out of it. "Morrigan, are you sure this is necessary? Flemeth said – "

"I know what she told you!" Morrigan had snapped, interrupting him. "And that was because I was wrong about what she wanted. I thought I knew what Flemeth planned. I thought what she craved was immortality. I was wrong, so very wrong. She is not even human. The ritual was but a means to an end, a herald for what is to come. 'Twas Kieran she wanted all along, not me."

"Where is he?" Aedan had demanded; he'd been so caught up with seeing her that for a moment he had forgotten to look for their child as well. He'd looked around, unable to see any sign that anyone was here with Morrigan, looking after the baby. "He's not here, is he?"

She'd shaken her head. "He is not. He is safe, for the moment. Once I have determined what lies beyond the eluvian, I will fetch him, and keep him safe from what is to come."

"What is to come? What's going to happen?" He'd reached for her, feeling a desperate need to hold her now that he was no longer angry with her, but she'd stepped just out of range, shaking her head.

"Change is coming to the world," she'd replied quietly, not meeting his eyes. "Many fear change, and will fight it with every fibre of their being. Sometimes change is what they need most. Sometimes, change is what sets them free."

"And is that what you want?" he'd asked, frustrated. She was talking in riddles, just like her mother, and he hated it. "To be free? Free of me?"

She'd finally met his eyes, looking more uncertain and unhappy than he'd ever seen her. "What I want . . . is unimportant now." She glanced behind her at the eluvian. "I cannot tarry longer. I only remained this long because I felt your approach. You kept the ring." She'd smiled slightly as she looked back at him.

"Of course I kept the ring, Morrigan," he'd replied softly. "I would _never_ get rid of the only thing that I have to remind me of my pretty witch." This time, he'd reached out and grabbed her arm quickly before she realized what he was doing, hauling her against him.

He'd claimed her mouth before she could protest, kissing her with all the miserable, aching longing he'd felt over the last several months, stroking his tongue against hers firmly, pressing her body tightly to his. She'd been stiff with surprise for a second, but it hadn't lasted long; she had soon melted against him, twining her arms around his neck, meeting his passion with her own. When he'd moved to her neck and slid his hand under her skirt, though, she'd pushed at him and pulled free of his embrace.

"I . . . I cannot," she'd said, shaking her head, her eyes burning with clear regret. "I must leave."

"Morrigan, please, you can't just leave me like this," he'd pleaded, pride be damned. "Surely there must be some other way."

"The only other way is if you were to come with me," she'd said quietly, meeting his eyes steadily, challengingly, as though she knew what he was going to say. "You'd have to give up everything, and you might never be able to come back."

"Morrigan, I – " he'd stared at her for a long moment, torn as he had never been in his life. How badly he wished he could say yes and not regret it; that he could run away and leave everything behind. But his sense of duty tore at him just as much; he'd been able to do so much good already. Could he really just disappear and leave the opportunity to do more for Ferelden behind him? "I love you, but I –"

She'd smiled sadly at him, obviously knowing what he was going to say. "I love you, too, Aedan, my Warden. But I cannot stay, and you cannot leave." She'd turned to leave, then, and he'd grabbed her arm.

"Wait! Will I – ever see you again?"

"I do not know," she'd said softly, aching regret shining out of her eyes. "Perhaps, one day."

He'd kissed her once more, a hard, desperate kiss, a goodbye kiss, before she'd pulled away from him a final time and slipped into the mirror, disappearing before his very eyes. That had been one of the worst days of his life. He'd stared at the eluvian for a long time, feeling broken, as though half of him had gone through with her while the other half remained behind. It wasn't until his companions came looking for him that he had finally left the mirror, regret squeezing his heart in a vice.

He'd felt regret many more times after that day over the next few years, wishing that he had gone with her when the loss hit him hard; when he saw the ring on his finger and thought of her, or when he saw a child playing and wondered what their son looked like now. He did have days when he was grateful he hadn't gone, though; when he made a difference by being there and by being the king of Ferelden, or when he had a happy moment with Anora or his friends. Those were the days when he knew he'd made the right decision. Still, he'd felt the spark of ambition and life inside him slowly dwindling with every month that had gone by without seeing Morrigan or hearing her voice.

And then, one day, he'd gotten a letter from Leliana that had caused the spark to flare back into full flame; she'd seen Morrigan at the Orlesian court, of all places, filling the role of occult advisor to Empress Celene. He'd been a little flabbergasted at the news, even as his heart had sang, but he'd wasted no time arranging a visit to the Empress's court to see Morrigan for himself.

He'd been so elated when he'd finally seen her that he'd nearly spoiled years of keeping secrets and being discreet all in one fell swoop. Fortunately, Morrigan had kept her head and gotten them somewhere private before he'd completely lost his senses and taken her for all to see.

Later, when they'd been lying together, spent, Morrigan had confessed, "I could not stay there any longer, in between as we were. I . . . missed you too desperately, my love. I . . . even missed _people_, oddly. So I decided to go to Orlais; I thought that the last place my mother would look for me would be here, particularly in the court. The Empress finds me intriguing, and asked that I be her advisor; I had never thought of doing such a thing, but it has been . . . tolerable, so far."

"My lovely witch," he'd murmured, peppering her face with kisses. "You have no idea how much I missed you. I thought I was losing my mind, at times, with the regret and loneliness. Promise me you'll never do that to me again."

"I will not," she'd promised, kissing him with a fevered passion that had him moaning before continuing, "I have found a way of keeping Kieran shielded from my mother. She should not be able to find us, now. I will remain here, and we can be as we were before, if you wish it."

"Of course I do," he'd growled, nibbling on her neck before he'd looked up and met her surprisingly anxious gaze. "How could you think otherwise?" He'd frowned as a sudden thought occurred to him. "For that matter, why did you not send word to me when you returned? I only knew you were here because Leliana saw you."

"I . . . was afraid," she'd admitted as she ran her hand through his hair. "I worried that maybe you'd changed your mind after I left you like that, that maybe you would not want to see me anymore."

He'd frowned in confusion as he looked up at her. "You must have known I was still wearing the ring."

"I did, but . . . I thought perhaps you were merely wearing it as a reminder, not because you wished to see me again. I . . . suppose I was being . . . foolish," she'd finished reluctantly, causing him to grin.

"You _were_ being foolish, my pretty witch. I will _always_ want to see you, so the next time you decide to go somewhere, send me word first this time. Swear it," he'd demanded sternly, and she'd agreed, nodding without hesitation this time.

After that, they had continued on the way they had been that first year; meeting up as often as their schedules would allow for them to get away. He'd slowly gotten to know his son, as well, though he'd been unable to tell Kieran who he really was. Morrigan had thought, and he had agreed, reluctantly, that the boy had been too young to trust with the secret of who his father really was. So Kieran merely thought of him as a friend of his mother's, an uncle of sorts, and while it was not ideal, at least he still got to spend time with him, and give him presents whenever they visited, which had been fairly frequently.

But then the events in Kirkwall had happened, leading to the rebellion of both the mages and Templars, followed by the Conclave, the Breach, and Corypheus. The chaos had simply exploded, causing Aedan to be unable to find time to visit Morrigan and his son for months now, making it the longest he'd ever been without seeing them since Morrigan had returned.

Never again, he vowed to himself as he made his way through the halls of Skyhold. He'd told his troops to rest in the rooms provided by the Inquisition, telling them that he was going to pay his respects to the Inquisitor, while in reality, he was heading towards the room Leliana had told him belonged to Morrigan. No matter what chaos might engulf the world again, he would never go longer than a couple of months at most without seeing her and his son. He would _not_ let it happen.

He'd just reached the door to Morrigan's room when he heard another woman's voice on the other side, and he halted, curious. "Why don't you send word to him, ask him to come?" the woman said.

He heard Morrigan's faint snort in reply. "And have him be insufferably pleased with himself, thinking that I cannot do without him while I am wounded? He will think it simply means that I miss him."

He smiled in spite of himself, and swung the door open, meeting Morrigan's startled gaze as he entered the room. "Are you saying that you _don't_ miss me?"

Morrigan was lying propped up in the large, four-poster bed in the room, looking pale, and there were bandages around both her head and her ribs, yet she had never looked more beautiful to him as her eyes went wide. "Aedan, you are here . . . but . . . how did you know?"

"I have my sources," he told her mildly, leading her to mutter, "Never mind, I can guess," as he nodded at the woman standing by her bedside. From the descriptions he'd heard of her, she had to be none other than the Inquisitor, Lady Trevelyan.

She smiled at him in turn, her startling blue eyes sparkling with mischief as she swept him a bow, causing her long, inky black hair to fall over her shoulder. "To what do we owe the honor, Your Majesty? Or should I say the Hero of Ferelden?"

He just managed to school the surprise out of his face; he wasn't wearing his crown or any other indication of his rank, though maybe his armor was a bit fine, and he wasn't aware that the Inquisitor knew who he was. As far as he'd known, only their former companions had any idea that he and Morrigan were still together; they had both taken great pains to make sure no one found out. However, given the life-and-death nature of the battle with Corypheus, Morrigan must have felt the need to confide in the woman in case something happened to her, which it very nearly had, he reminded himself.

"Just Aedan, thank you, Lady Trevelyan. Or should I say the Inquisitor?" he returned mildly, causing her smile to grow wider.

"Eve is fine. And she did miss you, you know," she told him as she passed by him, tossing a grin over her shoulder at Morrigan, who was glaring at her. "I'll leave you two alone, I'm sure you have some catching up to do."

She closed the door behind her as she left, and Aedan went to Morrigan's side immediately as she did so. He wanted to crush her to him, but not knowing how bad her injuries were, he pulled a chair up to her bedside instead, taking her hand in his. "You seemed surprised to see me," he said softly. "Couldn't you feel me coming?"

"I . . . no," she shook her head, looking faintly disturbed as she turned his hand over, studying the ring that had never left it since the day she'd given it to him. "I suppose . . . I must still be recovering."

He kissed her hand gently, more worried than he cared to admit at her confession. She must be very weak still, if she couldn't feel the simple magic of the ring when he'd been so close. "Morrigan . . . you should have told me that you were going into battle. I said I would always protect you, and I meant it. I would have brought troops, to help you and the Inquisitor. I would have fought by your side, the way we used to do."

Morrigan shook her head, frowning. "I did not want you there. If something had gone wrong . . . I wanted you as far away from it as possible. I do not need you to protect me, in any case."

"I know you don't _need_ me to," he snapped, irritated with her, "but I would like the opportunity to be able to protect you, at least. What if you had died, Morrigan? I wouldn't have been able to see you ever again, or have a chance to say goodbye to you!" His voice cracked slightly in spite of himself, and he clutched her hand a little harder.

"I did . . . have a letter written, in case something happened to me, to be delivered to you," Morrigan admitted, not quite meeting his eyes, though she squeezed his hand in return.

"So you would be able to say goodbye to me, and I couldn't say it to you?" he demanded, trying to rein in his anger. He didn't really want to yell at her when she was so obviously not feeling well, yet he couldn't help but be angry she had kept him in the dark like that.

"I . . . am sorry, my love," she replied softly, meeting his gaze at last, her golden eyes shining slightly with tears. "I had not thought of it that way. I could only think that . . . I did not want you there in such a dangerous battle, for knowing you, you would throw yourself right in the middle of it. I did not want to chance Kieran losing both his parents, should the battle not go well."

"Ah, Morrigan," he sighed, shaking his head, his anger evaporating at her apology. He leaned in, kissing her forehead gently. "I can see your point, I suppose. But Kieran doesn't even know I'm his father, anyway."

"No, but whether he knew it or not, at least he still would have had a parent to watch over him," she said. "It was all I could think of to do, and I would do it again. I . . . am glad to see you, however." A faint flush spread across her face at the admission.

"I'm glad to hear it," he answered mildly, smiling in spite of himself. "How bad was it? How are you feeling?"

"I . . . am told it was quite a serious injury," Morrigan admitted reluctantly, especially when he raised his eyebrows, frowning. "However, it has healed well, and I am feeling a good deal better now than I was, if not back to my full strength. How long can you stay, this time?"

"I should be able to manage a couple of weeks, at least," he replied, wishing he could stay even longer than that, but knowing that Anora would need him back eventually. "Perhaps a little longer, if the Inquisitor finds she has a need for our help for that long. I take it you told her about us?"

Morrigan nodded. "I did; I felt I had little choice, that someone besides Leliana needed to know who you were, in case something did happen to me. But do not worry. She is trustworthy, and the only other one in Skyhold who knows. She . . . rather reminds me of Ayla, actually."

Aedan smiled. "Well, that's good; I'm glad you found yourself another friend." He laughed when she sputtered at him in denial, continuing, "Anyway, it will make things easier when she knows the real reason why the King of Ferelden comes to visit every couple of months. She can help me come up with excuses. Unless you're going back to Orlais. Or . . ." he paused as a sudden thought occurred to him. "I could use an occult advisor, myself. I haven't had one since Wynne passed away."

Morrigan raised her eyebrows at him, looking surprised. "Do you think that wise? Do you think we would be able to be discreet enough that no one would begin to suspect something? Or that no one will see how Kieran resembles you?"

Aedan shrugged. To be honest, he hadn't really thought it through; he'd only thought of how enjoyable it would be to see Morrigan and his son every day, instead of every couple of months. "Does he really look that much like me?" he asked, curious. "I know he has my eyes, but I didn't think we looked much alike besides that."

Morrigan snorted at him. "He is nearly identical to you; I can certainly see it, and even the bard has remarked upon it. I am sure your . . . wife will realize it, as well, particularly once she finds out his age."

Aedan frowned; Morrigan was right, Anora wasn't stupid. She would likely put two and two together as soon as she saw him with Kieran. As much as he wanted Morrigan and his son with him more often, he cared greatly about Anora, as well. He didn't want to hurt her, and he'd gone out of his way to keep his affair with Morrigan secret all this time. It would not do to put that secret at so much risk now, no matter how much he might want it. "I suppose you're right," he said at last, reluctantly. "Will you remain here, then?"

Morrigan nodded slowly. "I believe I might. 'Tis a more enjoyable place than the Orlesian court, and I believe they could use my help now that they have lost most of their other mages."

"I'm sure they could," Aedan agreed. "They couldn't ask for a better mage . . . or a prettier one," he teased her, grinning when she rolled her eyes at him.

"Do not poke fun," she scolded him. "I am aware that I do not look my best right now, with all these bandages."

"You look beautiful," he told her lowly, slipping a hand behind her head and drawing her mouth gently to his for a slow, heated kiss. She moaned softly when he took the kiss deeper, and in spite of his better judgment, he would have been climbing on the bed shortly had he not heard a knock at the door at that moment.

He drew back reluctantly as Morrigan took a deep breath, her eyes looking like molten gold before she called out, "You may enter."

The door opened, and Eve stood there again, smiling apologetically at them as she steered Kieran into the room. "He wanted to see you, Morrigan, before he went to bed for the night," she explained.

Aedan stared at his son wordlessly for a moment, nearly floored by the change in the lad since he'd last seen him. He'd grown several inches, nearly coming up to the Inquisitor's shoulder, and his face had matured a little, as well. He looked like Fergus when he was a boy, Aedan realized, which probably meant that he looked just like _him_, as Morrigan had said. Kieran broke into a wide grin upon spotting him. "Uncle Aedan, you came to visit again!"

It was like a stab to the heart every time his son saw him and didn't know who he really was, but he knew he had only himself to blame for that. He managed a smile as he got to his feet and Kieran rushed up, hugging him tightly. He returned the embrace, seeing the look of sympathy that Eve cast him over the top of the boy's head as he murmured, "Yes, I did. Have you been taking good care of your mother since I saw you last, like we talked about?"

"Of course!" Kieran exclaimed, leaning back to smile up at him, before his face fell. "At least, I've been trying . . . Mother wouldn't let me go with her to fight the bad man, and she got hurt . . ."

"That was not your fault, Kieran, I have told you," Morrigan interrupted, sounding pained. Aedan turned to look at her, seeing the guilt on her face as she went on, "I am doing much better now, and you have done an excellent job at taking care of me."

"Well, if she says you're doing a good job, then you must be," Aedan declared, ruffling Kieran's hair, feeling a little bad himself for bringing it up. "She's not very good at letting me help, either," he told the boy in a mock whisper, grinning at Morrigan when she glared at him. "Now go on, say goodnight to her; you both need your rest. I'll come visit you more tomorrow, okay?"

"Do you promise?" Kieran asked eagerly, his eyes shining as he looked up at him. "Will you teach me how to use the sword some more? I like it best when you show me how!"

"Of course, I will," Aedan promised him, feeling his heart wrench at the boy's declaration. How could he have put off coming to see them for so long? "Every day, if you like, while I'm here. Now go on." He steered the boy gently over to the bed.

Kieran climbed on the bed, carefully wrapping his arms around his mother's neck as Aedan watched, trying to soak up and remember every moment that he got to witness. "Good night, Mother. I'll come see you tomorrow."

"Good night, Kieran," she whispered in his hair as she hugged him close, looking up at Aedan over his head, her eyes shining again, and he swallowed hard, his heart full to bursting at the sight. "Now," she went on a little more briskly as the boy pulled back, "I expect you to keep up with your other studies as well. Do not spend all your time on swordplay, no matter what Aedan says."

"I promise, Mother," the boy replied dutifully as he climbed off the bed and started to head for the door. Aedan winked at him as he passed by, and then widened his eyes innocently at Morrigan when she glared at him. "Good night, Uncle Aedan," Kieran said cheerfully from the door.

"Good night, Kieran. I'll see you tomorrow," Aedan called after him as the boy trotted down the hallway.

Just before leaving, Eve leaned into the room a little more and said in a low voice, "Feel free to stay in here, if you like. No one else knows where you are, and if any of your men ask, I'll say you have retired to your room after speaking to me."

"Thank you," he said gratefully. "Where is my room, by the way?"

"Just two doors down the hall," she answered, smiling. "And our official business can wait until whenever you're free. Go see Kieran first."

He nodded as she closed the door behind her, feeling that he owed her more than he could ever repay for her understanding. He locked the door, just in case, before he stripped off his armor and carefully climbed up on the bed next to Morrigan, drawing her gently in his arms. "I'm sorry," he said softly into her hair, once he had her snugly against him.

She tilted her head back a little, frowning at him. "What could you possibly be sorry for?"

"That it has been so long since I have come to see you. There was so much going on, but that was no excuse . . . I should have made the time, somewhere, to come see you and Kieran at least once in the past few months. I didn't realize how truly long it had been until I saw how much he'd grown," he said, feeling the guilt and regret threatening to overwhelm him. "I won't let it happen again, I swear to you. You know I love you, right?" He pulled her a little closer, kissing her gently. "That I still do? That I always will?"

"I know it," she answered quietly. "My Warden, my love, I know you have never broken your promise to me." She placed her hand over his heart, and he laid his over top of it. "I know that this remains mine."

"It does," he vowed to her. "Always. And this time, no matter what happens in the world, I will see you as often as I possibly can. Just . . . promise me that next time you'll let me know if you're in danger, so that I can be there. For my sake, for your sake, and for Kieran's. Please."

She sighed, leaning her head against his chest. "Very well, I promise. You will . . . stay with me tonight?"

"Tonight," he murmured into her hair as he pressed a kiss there, "tomorrow night, every night that I'm here. And when you're feeling better, I will show you how much I've missed you."

Her eyes flared with sudden heat as she looked up at him, smiling wickedly. "Do you promise?"

"Absolutely," he growled, wishing he could kiss her as hard as he wanted to right now. But she looked so weary, so tired, so unlike herself that he knew he shouldn't. "Now get some rest, so you can recover faster."

"As my love wishes," she purred at him, making him groan softly at the heat that raced through his blood, before she settled down next to him to sleep.

Maker, how he had missed her, he thought as he held her close, watching her sleep and listening to her breathe. As much as his choices hurt him, he didn't regret them, though. He could not regret the opportunities he'd had to do so much good for the people of Ferelden, and he most certainly did not regret any moment spent with his witch. But there had to be a better way than this. Maybe someday, he would figure out a way to have a better ending with his love, to be together with her and their son as a family. He only hoped that he would be able to find it.


	3. Witch Hunt

_A/N: So this is a gift fic written for Lethal Dragon for the 100th review on Somewhere We Belong. The prompt was to cover the Witch Hunt DLC with an Aedan/Morrigan pairing, over which I was essentially given free rein, with the exception that it take place in the "Worth It" universe. So basically, it is my characters and story from Together, but with Aedan's ending differing the way it does in Worth It - he remains as Warden Commander in a relationship with Morrigan, until she disappears on him that is! There will also be a few lines when they meet at the Eluvian that will be similar to the lines in I Still Do, just because I really liked those lines for these two and wanted to leave them in. But the rest is changed as this is an Aedan who does not take the throne or marry Anora. Anyway, hope everybody enjoys, and it looks like this particular "story" will just end up being a collection of Aedan/Morrigan fics._

**_PLEASE REVIEW!_**

_Disclaimer: Bioware owns anything you recognize, the rest is mine._

Witch Hunt

Aedan didn't understand what had happened. He thought everything had been going well between them. Certainly they weren't together every day like he might have hoped for when he'd proposed that they stay together when he became Warden Commander, but that had been at Morrigan's insistence. She was still positive that Flemeth was a danger to her and to their son, and so she had continued to travel, searching for a way to protect herself from Flemeth. She had also thought that if she stayed on the move, and only infrequently came to the Keep to visit Aedan, that Flemeth would not be able to track her movements and know when she would be at the Keep, and thus it would hopefully still be safe for her to visit Aedan there. She'd never stayed longer than a week because of this, insisting it wouldn't be safe, but she'd always come back. Until now, over a year after the Blight had ended.

Now, it had been over two months since she'd returned or sent any word of where she was. The first month, Aedan had not been too worried, as it wasn't uncommon for a month to go by before she returned or at least sent word that her return would be delayed. But as time had continued to stretch on past that one month mark, he had grown more and more worried. Now he was panicked and terrified. Had something happened to her and Kieran? Had Flemeth really come after her in spite of her claims to him that she would not interfere with Morrigan? Or – and this was a far more worrying thought – had she simply decided to run away from him at last? He didn't think she would have done that, not when their relationship had been going so well during the brief times they'd had together at the Keep, but he didn't know for sure, and the doubt gnawed at him.

He sent word to everyone he knew to keep an eye out for her, and had all his scouts that were roaming Ferelden keep an eye out for her as well. And finally, one of the scouts reported seeing a woman at Flemeth's old hut in the Wilds. They'd only seen the woman from a distance before she'd disappeared, so they hadn't been positive it was Morrigan, but it was the first possible lead he'd had in a month, and so Aedan was determined to look into it. He was not about to lose the woman he loved – or his son – without a fight.

"Are you sure you don't want someone to come with you?" Alistair asked him, leaning against the doorjamb and watching as Aedan shoved things into his pack. "I know why I can't go with you, since you want me to be Warden Commander in your absence, but are you sure you can't take someone else with you? Nathaniel, or Sigrun, or Oghren, or even Ayla?"

Aedan smiled, appreciating Alistair's concern and even more, the offer of his wife's assistance. He knew Alistair would rather not be separated from Ayla for such a long time if he could help it, so the fact that he would even suggest the separation was touching. "Thank you, brother, but no. We have too few Wardens and too many duties to spare anyone for my personal matters, and I wouldn't take Ayla away from you for so long. I probably shouldn't even be going myself, with so much going on, but I can't . . ." he shrugged, not bothering to finish the sentence.

"No, I get it," Alistair said. "I mean, maybe I still don't get why it's Morrigan, but I know why you have to go looking for the woman you love. If Ayla suddenly disappeared on me . . ." he shuddered, shaking his head. "I get it. Just . . . you're sure you'll be okay on your own?"

"I won't be alone," Aedan reminded him. "I'll have Striker with me."

Alistair grinned. "Of course, how silly of me to forget. Well, that dog of yours is strangely fond of Morrigan; if anybody can find her, I'm sure he can. If only so he can leave a dead animal in her pack again."

Aedan laughed in spite of himself, remembering how disgusted Morrigan had been when Striker had left her a "present" in her pack during the Blight. In spite of that and her frequent protests to the contrary, he'd always suspected that Morrigan was far fonder of his mabari hound than she was willing to admit. And certainly, as Alistair said, Striker was fond of her. He was always excited to see her when she came to visit, and had been getting more depressed over the last month as her absence had stretched on. "Yes, I'm sure he'll be a great help in finding her. And we're only going to the Korcari Wilds, anyway."

Alistair sighed. "Right. Like that's not all the way across the country, or anything. Well, just make sure you don't disappear on us, too. Send word and let us know how things are going, would you?"

"Of course, brother. And . . . thank you. I'll let you know what I find out," Aedan assured him, before he slung the pack over his shoulder and headed for the door.

"See that you do, brother." Alistair clapped him on the shoulder as he passed. "And be careful."

"I will," Aedan promised him. He headed down the hallway, saying his farewells to the others as he went, before he collected Striker out in the courtyard and left the Keep altogether, beginning his journey down south to the Korcari Wilds. He prayed as he went that the woman that had been spotted there was in fact Morrigan, and that she would still be there when he arrived.

* * *

"Well, we're here at last," Aedan said, a month later as they approached the familiar-looking hut in the Wilds. Striker barked and danced around in front of him as they went down the path. The hut didn't look much different than it had over two years ago at the start of the Blight. Maybe slightly more ramshackle and run-down, but otherwise exactly the same. "Do you think she's still here, boy?"

Striker stopped, glancing back at him and letting out a piteous whine, his ears flapping down.

Aedan closed the distance between them, kneeling down and petting Striker's head, as much for himself as for the dog. "We'll find her, I promise. And Kieran, too."

Striker leapt up again, barking happily, and Aedan wished he could reassure himself as easily as he could his dog. He didn't even know if it was Morrigan that had been here in the first place – or if anyone was still here. Nevertheless, he had to check it out.

He entered the hut cautiously, Striker going in ahead of him and sniffing around. The dog suddenly gave a low, menacing growl as he went around the one corner that was in the small hut, and Aedan hurried forward, hand on the hilt of his greatsword. Striker would not have growled at Morrigan.

He came around the corner of the wall himself to see an elven woman with her sword pointed at Striker. She had short, red hair that skimmed her shoulders, and her face was marked with a pale Dalish tattoo. She was wearing a surprisingly thick set of skirted chainmail for a Dalish elf, but the symbols it was carved with were clearly Dalish as well. "Not another step!" the woman snapped, her grey eyes meeting his. "What are you doing here?"

Striker growled at her again, not liking the threatening tone of voice aimed at his master, Aedan knew, and the woman raised her sword higher in response. "Call off your hound, shem!"

Aedan held up his hands peacefully, not wanting to see her sword land on Striker. "Hey, there's no need for name-calling or threats. Easy, boy. She's not who we were hoping to find, but I don't think she's a threat to us, either." At least, he hoped she wasn't, but without Ayla's instincts around to verify it, he didn't know for sure.

Striker backed down immediately, moving back to Aedan's side and plopping down next to him, and after a wary glance at the two of them, the elven woman sheathed her sword. "Fine, I'll start then," she replied. "I am Ariane, of the Dalish people. My keeper sent me to find Asha'bellanar – the Woman of Many Years."

Aedan nodded at her. "My name is Aedan, of the Grey Wardens," he answered her, equally formally. "I'm here because my scouts thought you were someone else, it seems. That is, if you've been here for the past month." Perhaps she hadn't been here long, and it had been Morrigan that his scouts had seen a month ago. He sincerely hoped so, because if not, he had no idea where else to look.

"I have been, as a matter of fact," Ariane said. "I've been looking for some sign of where Asha'bellanar went, or hoping that she would return, but it seems no one has been here for some time. Your scouts cannot have mistaken me for Flemeth, however. You must be looking for her daughter, the mysterious Morrigan." Aedan nodded, his heart sinking at the news that Morrigan had apparently never been here, even as the elf went on, "We have something in common, then. The young witch has caused trouble for my clan. Has she earned your ire, as well?"

"She caused trouble for your clan? How recently?" Aedan demanded, a frisson of hope rising in him again. Perhaps this trip hadn't been a complete waste of time, after all.

"It was about six weeks ago, I suppose," Ariane replied, raising her brows in confusion. "It was why my keeper sent me here, hoping that Asha'bellanar could locate her daughter for us. Morrigan stole an ancient book my clan has guarded since the days of Arlathan, and we need it back. We were the only ones with such a piece of our history." She paced to the fire, looking distressed as she went on, "Everything we once had, all legacy of our ancient magics were stripped from us, first by the Tevinter magisters, then by the wretched Circle. And Morrigan took what little was left."

"She stole a book from your clan?" Aedan repeated, torn between confusion, fury and elation. If Morrigan had been with the Dalish six weeks ago, that meant she had been alive and well then – but hadn't bothered to let him know that fact. And what could she want with an ancient elven book, anyway? Was it something to do with her ongoing quest to protect herself from her mother? If so, why hadn't she let him know where she was? And where had she gone after that? He shook his head. There was no point in thinking about all of this now; he wouldn't get any answers until he found her. "How do you know Morrigan stole it?" he pressed, needing to be sure it really was her before he went off following another lead that might go nowhere.

"She visited our clan in the name of friendship, and took great interest in our history," Ariane told him, turning to look back at him. "She knew _exactly_ what she was looking for. The keeper allowed her to see the book. Two nights later, it was gone – and so was she."

"And what is so special about this book? What do you think she wanted with it?" Aedan asked. He didn't really have trouble believing Morrigan would have stolen the book from the Dalish, not if she felt she needed it, but if he knew why she stole the book, it might help him find her.

"For almost two thousand years, the Dalish people have been wanderers, a shadow of what we once were. This book – as much of a mystery as it is to us – is one of the only clues on how to reclaim that past," Ariane explained. "My keeper, Solan, says it was a treatise on something the ancients called 'Eluvian'. The word is as old as the book itself, and its meaning has been lost. Save perhaps to Morrigan – or her mother."

Well, it wasn't much of a clue, Aedan thought with a sigh. In order to know what Morrigan was doing with the book, he'd need to know what Eluvian meant, and if the Dalish didn't know, how was he supposed to find out? "What is your plan if you can't find Flemeth?" he asked Ariane. "As you pointed out, no one has been here in quite some time. I doubt she's ever coming back here. Finding her might be even more difficult than finding Morrigan."

"If I could not find Asha'bellanar, my Keeper suggested I attempt to go to the Circle of Magi. The book of Eluvian was reclaimed for my clan by an elven mage, who stole it from the Circle before defecting. He said other similar treasures remain in the library, which might help us understand what the book was about. They would never allow a Dalish to view them, though. But if you were to help me, I might be able to see them . . ." she looked up hopefully at him. "You want to find Morrigan, as well, don't you? We could help one another with the search."

Aedan frowned, considering. If Morrigan was looking into something related to the Dalish, it might help to have a Dalish elf with him. But – "What do you want Morrigan for? What do you plan to do if you find her?" he demanded. If this elf wanted to kill Morrigan or exact some sort of revenge for the theft, he couldn't allow that – and he would do whatever he had to in order to prevent it.

"I just want to return the book to my clan," Ariane told him. "So if she returns the book to me, I will return it to my people immediately, and leave her to you. You can do as you like with her." She frowned, studying him. "Why are you looking for her, anyway? You never said."

Aedan sighed, relieved at Ariane's answer. If all she wanted was the book, and she seemed to be sincere enough about that, then he felt he could trust her to help him find Morrigan. He'd simply have to convince his pretty witch to return the book to Ariane's clan, once they found her. Realizing the elf was still awaiting an answer, he replied, "I didn't say because it is between Morrigan and I. It's a private matter." He certainly didn't need to tell her he was tracking his runaway lover down – if she was even still his. "But yes, I could help you get into the Circle – and I wouldn't mind some help in looking for her, myself."

Ariane beamed at him in obvious relief. "Ma serannas. I look forward to working with you."

Striker barked happily, and Aedan smiled. It seemed Striker was taking a liking to her, and that was a good sign. Still, he'd keep a wary eye on Ariane for now, until he could be sure she really only wanted the book. "Let's go, then. It'll take at least a week to get to the Circle from here."

* * *

"Welcome to Ferelden's Circle of Magi," an unfamiliar Templar with dark auburn hair and a beard said as Aedan entered the Circle with Ariane and Striker on his heels. "Please, keep your hound under control. Some of the apprentices are easily startled. And I see you have a Dalish elf with you," he added as they all stopped a few feet away.

"Is that a problem?" Ariane demanded.

"Of course it's not," Aedan said, meeting the Templar's eyes levelly. He knew that his arrival had been announced as they were coming over on the ferry, so even if he didn't know this Templar, this Templar knew who he was. "Is it?"

"Of course not," the Templar agreed quickly, bobbing his head. "The Circle is glad to have you as a guest, Warden Commander. You and your companion. As you can see, things are much changed from when you were last here."

Well, there were certainly fewer abominations, Aedan thought wryly. And fewer Templars running around in a state of panic. Speaking of which - "What happened to Greagoir? Is he around?"

"Greagoir is in Denerim, attending to some important business. My name is Hadley. I lead the Templars in the Knight-Commander's absence," the other man replied. "Now, what brings you to the Circle, ser?"

"I have need of your library," Aedan answered, hoping this Hadley wouldn't ask too many questions as to why.

Fortunately, Hadley merely nodded as if this was a perfectly normal request. "If you're looking for a book, you can start in the index section. As the Warden Commander, you and your guests are free to explore the first floor of the tower without an escort. Good day to you."

"Thank you," Aedan replied, nodding formally before heading beyond the Templar to the large double doors that led to the circular hallways of the first floor.

"I see why Keeper Solan did not want me to come here," Ariane muttered as she fell in at his side, Striker trailing behind them. "It is all too tempting to overturn the tight order of their little world."

"I suppose it might be, if you haven't seen the way it looks when it's consumed by chaos," Aedan agreed mildly. "It might seem excessive, but there is a reason for this order. During the Blight, most of the Templars and mages were killed, and this entire place was nearly destroyed because things got out of control."

"Oh. I did not realize such a thing had occurred," Ariane said quietly. "I will leave them to their order, then."

"Well, let's go find the library and see if there are any books that will tell us what Eluvian means." Aedan didn't want her feeling too guilty for not knowing precisely what she was criticizing; he'd gotten to know her better over the past week of travel, and believed now that she was a good person whom he could trust, so he offered her the change of subject, which she gratefully latched on to.

"Yes, let's," she agreed eagerly. "Lead the way to this library."

He obediently led her through the circular hallways until they opened up into the vast library, two large rooms filled from floor to ceiling with shelves upon shelves of books. Mages bustled to and fro in the room, pulling books down from shelves or seating themselves at tables or chairs scattered throughout the library to continue their study. Following the Templar's advice, Aedan located the index and they looked through it until they found a book about elven relics, and another book about translating elven languages.

They had just sat themselves down at a table and begun looking through the two books when Striker started barking, and a male voice declared loudly, "Whoa! Who let a dog in here? And what are you doing? Be careful!"

Aedan looked up from the books to see a rather immaculate looking young mage with light brown hair, wearing silver and gold robes, standing in front of Striker and waving his hands around. "Be careful of what?"

"You're bending the book too much! It'll crack the spine and cause the pages to fall out!" the young mage exclaimed, sounding truly alarmed at such a prospect. "Just thinking about it is making me dizzy."

"Are you familiar with this particular book?" Aedan asked. Maybe if this mage knew something about it, he wouldn't have to spend hours trying to translate it.

"I've used it, but I don't know it by heart." The mage crept a little closer, one wary eye on Striker, who merely wagged his stub of a tail, and looked over at the open book on the table. "Hmm . . . browsing the chapter on Eluvians? No one's actually found one, you know."

"You know what 'Eluvian' is?" Ariane demanded from Aedan's other side.

"It's old elvish for 'seeing glass'. Mirror," the mage answered.

"How do you know that?" Aedan wondered, remembering how Ariane had said that the meaning of Eluvian was lost even to the Dalish.

"Cross-referencing, educated guesses, process of elimination," the mage replied with a shrug. "Finally found the answer in a Tevinter scroll. 'Eluvian' isn't just any mirror, it's a special kind. When the Imperium sacked Arlathan, they took these mirrors and tried to unlock their power. But all they could use them for was communication, over long distances."

"Why would Morrigan be interested in that?" Aedan muttered, half to himself as he looked back at the book. He'd expected her to be looking for something to protect herself from Flemeth – a new spell or something similar. He didn't see how a mirror used for communication would help her with that. Unless it could lead her to something else? He scrubbed a hand through his hair in frustration. Why couldn't she just have said something to him?!

"Ah, you have a friend with a special interest? Maybe she needs to talk to someone?" the mage said with a laugh.

Aedan shot an annoyed glance at him, not caring for the young man's suggestive tone, but before he could say anything in reply, Ariane said thoughtfully, "My people crossed paths with another Dalish clan not too long ago. Two of their young hunters encountered a strange mirror in some ruins. One disappeared, the other became deathly ill. They never found the one, and the other died. They left Ferelden, and traveled north to forget their sorrows."

Aedan turned to look at her, surprised. "So that means these mirrors are dangerous somehow?"

"I've never read anything about the Eluvians making people ill," the mage piped up again behind them. "But what became of the mirror?"

"Shattered," Ariane replied matter-of-factly. "Destroyed."

The mage gasped in horror. "Why?"

Ariane shook her head. "It was corrupted by the darkspawn, beyond hope of recovery. They did it to protect the others."

"Even broken, it could be used to find the others," the mage muttered to himself. "No, don't get ahead of yourself, Finn, you have to be sure."

"What? What do you know?" Ariane demanded.

Aedan watched as the mage, Finn, clapped his hands together in sudden delight. "This is so exciting! We have to get to the repository. Hadley has the key. Come on!"

"What's in the repository?" Aedan asked as he got up from the table, seeing that Finn was practically bouncing in his eagerness to get going.

"Information about the Eluvian, of course. Now come on!" Without waiting for a reply, Finn hurried away, heading back towards the library's exit.

Aedan exchanged a glance with Ariane, who shrugged and proceeded to follow Finn. Well, Aedan thought, though this Finn kid was odd, it seemed he knew quite a bit about Eluvians, which might eventually lead him to Morrigan. It wasn't as though he had any other way to find her, after all.

Aedan caught up to Finn just as he reached Hadley, still standing guard in the entrance room. "Hadley! Just the man I was looking for," Finn exclaimed.

Hadley raised his brows. "Not looking very hard, were you? I'm always here."

Finn: chuckled. "Good one. So, I . . . eh . . . need to go into the repository."

"No," Hadley replied instantly, shaking his head.

"No? Why not?" Finn demanded. "I'm not some drooling apprentice."

"It's because of me, isn't it?" Ariane asked with a sigh.

"No," Hadley immediately denied. "The sentinels have been behaving erratically, so the repository is locked for everyone's safety."

"Oh. Well then . . . er . . . sorry for bothering you," Finn said, looking disappointed.

Aedan sighed, wondering why nothing in his life could ever be easy. Why couldn't he just walk into the repository and get the information he wanted, just like that, just once? But he wasn't about to give up, either, so he reluctantly asked, "Is there something I can do to help with the sentinels?"

Hadley turned to look at him in surprise. "I would certainly like to see the situation resolved, but I would hate to put you in danger. The repository isn't crucial to the daily functioning of the Circle, so we've left it until we can spare more men."

"Don't worry, I'm quite capable of handing a little danger, I assure you," Aedan said. How bad could these sentinels be, compared to abominations or darkspawn, after all? "I'm sure I can help you out with this."

Hadley sighed, then shrugged. "Very well, it's your necks. But before you go, what's so important down there?"

"The statue," Finn replied promptly, making Aedan stare at him in surprise. "It knows things about Tevinter, and I need to speak to it."

"All right," Hadley said as though this was a perfectly logical response, taking a key out of his pocket and handing it to Aedan, who took it with a shrug. Finn seemed certain this would work, so who was he to argue? "Be careful, and keep the mess to a minimum."

"You know talking to inanimate objects is a sign of insanity, right?" Ariane asked Finn as he gestured to them to follow him away from Hadley and into the hallway.

"Not when it talks back," Finn informed her.

"You think this statue . . . talks to you?" Ariane stared at Finn doubtfully.

"It's complicated. It wasn't always a statue. You'll see," Finn told them as he led them into a large, open room that had another set of double doors down a small flight of stairs. Finn walked confidently over to the doors and looked expectantly back at them.

"Well, I suppose I've seen stranger things," Aedan muttered to Ariane, who looked at him with equal doubt as he went up to the doors and unlocked them.

The doors opened up into a cold, damp, eerie-looking set of hallways that glowed with a strange blue light. Finn hadn't led them very far in before they were attacked by beings that rather reminded Aedan of golems, only they were the size of a human man instead of being more than twice as large. He'd just managed to knock one to the floor when he noticed a red, wavering light appear suspended above the ground nearby.

"That's a rip in the Veil!" Finn exclaimed, pointing his staff at it. "That must be why the sentinels are acting strangely! If we can close it, they should stop!"

"How do we close it?" Aedan grunted as he knocked another sentinel back.

"I can seal it with magic if the rest of you can keep the sentinels away!" Finn answered, shooting an arcane blast at another sentinel that had wandered close to him.

"Then do it!" Ariane snapped, putting herself between Finn and the sentinel.

Finn began casting a spell, while Aedan, Ariane and Striker kept the sentinels away from him. Eventually, the red light disappeared, and the sentinels suddenly dropped their swords, turned and walked away, taking up stances along the walls.

"We did it!" Finn exclaimed. "The sentinels are going back to normal! We need to deal with the rest of the rips in the Veil if we can. I can feel that there's more than one."

"Of course there is," Aedan said with a sigh. "Where do we go from here?"

"This way," Finn gestured as he headed up a set of stairs towards another room. This room was full of artifacts, statues, globes, and various treasures littered on every available surface and set of shelves. There was a pale grey statue of what appeared to be a warrior in the corner of the room, which seemed to be surrounded by a black and red mist.

"That's the statue I was talking about," Finn explained, walking up to it.

They were only a few feet away when an eerie voice, coming from the direction of the statue, said, "The prison is breached. I see the encroaching darkness."

"Wow. It does talk," Ariane whispered in awe, tilting her head as she studied it.

"Hello?" Finn called, frowning.

"The . . . the shadow will consume all . . ." the voice moaned.

"It seems . . . afraid of something," Aedan mused. It sounded somewhat like a spirit was bound to the statue, similar to Caridin, the former dwarven Paragon who'd been bound to the body of a golem. Unlike Caridin, though, it didn't sound like it was quite in its right mind at the moment.

" Something is causing it distress," Finn agreed. "The tears in the Veil, most likely. The statue's useless until we mend the Veil."

"Then let's go," Aedan said, gesturing to the door on the opposite side of the room.

It took nearly two hours of searching through all the hallways and fighting the sentinels until Finn could seal all the rips in the Veil, but finally he declared that they'd sealed the last one and could go back to speak to the statue.

Finn brought them back to the room and approached the statue, which Aedan noticed no longer had the red and black mist around it. This time, as they came up to it, the voice intoned, "I am the spirit of Eleni Zinovia, once consort and –"

"Advisor to Archon Valerius, blah, blah, fall of the house," Finn interrupted it impatiently. "Yes, yes, we've been through that."

"Finn . . . greetings," the statue replied carefully.

"Are you all right now?" Aedan asked the spirit, curious. "You seemed distressed, earlier."

Finn turned to look at him in disbelief. "Are you asking the statue if it's all right? It's a statue!"

"So you'll talk to it, but it's strange to ask about its well-being?" Ariane put in, folding her arms as she stared at him.

"It's made of stone!" Finn exclaimed. "Short of a hammer and chisel, nothing will hurt it."

"The statue, no," Aedan said with a shrug, "but it's also a spirit, isn't it? I assume tears in the Veil can cause some kind of damage to spirits, can't they?"

"Stone eyes are no longer clouded," the spirit said, as if in response, "the darkness recedes, for now."

"It's hard to get answers out of it - - requires parsing all the grandiose mumbo-jumbo," Finn told them as he turned back to the statue, apparently deciding to ignore Aedan's point for the moment.

"Hmm, sounds familiar," Aedan muttered, reminded distinctly of Flemeth and her riddles.

"We know where a broken Eluvian lies," Finn said slowly and carefully, enunciating each word as though the spirit were stupid. "Can it still be used to find the others?"

"Scry," the spirit replied promptly. "The broken glass, dagger-sharp, will be your key."

The broken glass of the Eluvian Ariane had talked about, Aedan realized. The spirit was saying it could be used to find other mirrors. But scrying was a form of magic, and he was no mage. Neither was Ariane, for that matter. "Finn, do you know how scrying works?" he demanded of the young mage. Perhaps they could take him out of the tower to help, if Hadley would allow it.

Finn shrugged. "In theory. I haven't done much of it."

"The lights of Arlathan will illuminate the scryer's path," the spirit went on. "The archons possessed them, but they were misused, befouled, and lost, like so much the Imperium touched. Some were saved, carried by fugitives from the elven city. Their sorrow awoke the Stone, and her children sheltered them. They found a sanctuary in the deep halls of Cad'halash, now known as Cadash. There the lights of Arlathan lie, shielded from unworthy eyes."

"The spirit must mean Cadash Thaig," Aedan said, vaguely recalling that Oghren had mentioned that name once before. "I suppose this means we'll have to go there, too."

"She mentioned the children of the Stone," Ariane added in wonder. "I had not realized the durgen'len once aided my people when they fled."

"Deep halls of Cad'halash . . . must mean a dwarven thaig," Finn mused, obviously not listening to either of them.

"Goodbye Finn," the spirit declared. "We will not speak again."

Finn's head jerked up, and he stared at the statue in alarm. "What? What's that supposed to mean?"

"That is rather ominous," Aedan agreed, looking at the statue in surprise.

"I . . I'm not going to die, am I?" Finn demanded in a panic. "Hello?"

But the statue was apparently done talking, and didn't respond to any further prompting. Finn, looking dazed and worried, led them back out of the repository and up the stairs into the main room.

Ariane grabbed his arm, pulling him to a halt when they reached the top of the stairs. "Now mage, tell us what's going on," she demanded.

"The Eluvians are linked," Finn explained, confirming Aedan's suspicions of what the spirit had meant. "All of them. If you have one, you can find the others, if they still exist. But the one you know of is broken, and corrupted. So we need something else to . . . amplify the magic."

"The lights of Arlathan," Ariane guessed.

"Yes," Finn said with a shrug.

Aedan sighed. Finding other Eluvians would require first travelling to the ruins where the broken mirror was, then heading all the way down in the Deep Roads to Cadash Thaig to get the lights of Arlathan. That was easily another two months of journeying, if not more. And at the end of it, what would he gain? Would he even find Morrigan? "How is this going to help us find Morrigan?" he demanded of Ariane, frustrated.

"Morrigan is interested in the Eluvians," Ariane answered, looking sympathetic. "She would not have taken that book otherwise. So if we find them, we find her."

"Is she really interested in them? Why? They're just for communicating, aren't they?" Aedan couldn't understand why Morrigan would go to all this trouble to look for something that simply communicated across a great distance.

"Well, not necessarily," Finn said, and Aedan looked at him in surprise. "That was all the Imperium was able to use them for, but that doesn't mean that was their original purpose. It might be that this Morrigan of yours knows what they're really used for. Anyway, if you're going to look for the Eluvians, let me come with you; I can help. Please! I thought the mirrors were all destroyed. I can't pass up this chance at actually finding one."

Aedan sighed, trying to decide what his next step would be. He had no other idea of where to look for Morrigan; the Eluvians really were the only clue he had, and as Finn pointed out, maybe they had another use that Morrigan had discovered, one that would protect her from Flemeth somehow. There had to be some reason she'd stolen that book from Ariane's clan, after all. And the only way to find out for sure why Morrigan had been interested in the Eluvians was to find one, it seemed. And that meant he had no choice, not if he wanted to see his love and his son again. He nodded at Finn. "I could certainly use your help. I don't know how to scry, obviously. So long as you're allowed to go, that is."

Finn beamed, looking positively ecstatic. "I had permission to leave the tower to continue my research some time ago, but I never had the opportunity until now. I guess there's always a first time, huh? I'm sure I have a map to Cadash Thaig somewhere in my books. I'll find it on the road."

"Let's go then," Aedan agreed. "Grab what you need and meet us at the entrance."

Finn nodded, hurrying off towards the living quarters, while Aedan went to Hadley, informing him of what had happened and that Finn would be coming with them for a while. He then found someone to send a message back to the Keep, letting Alistair know what he'd found – and not found – at the Wilds and where he was going next, hoping that his brother would understand why he couldn't come back just yet. Finn joined them just as he finished up his message, and they set out for the elven ruins in the Brecilian Forest, Ariane in the lead now, while Aedan prayed that this whole mess really would bring him to Morrigan in the end.

* * *

Two weeks later, they stood at the entrance to the elven ruins, which was basically nothing more than a hole in the ground leading into a set of underground ruins. Aedan and Ariane paused at the entrance, waiting for a complaining Finn to catch up with them.

"That ring, you play with it often," Ariane said suddenly.

Aedan looked at her, startled. He hadn't even realized he'd been toying with the ring Morrigan had given him, the one she had said she could use to track him down. Now that she'd called attention to it, though, he realized he'd been twisting it around and around on his finger, where it had been since the day she'd given it to him. "Morrigan gave it to me, just before the end of the Blight," he said softly, wondering why he was telling Ariane this. Though they'd talked a lot about various things over the last two weeks, he still hadn't offered much about his relationship with Morrigan or the reason why he was looking for her. Still, Ariane wasn't stupid, and she'd probably heard the rumors about the Hero of Ferelden and the Witch of the Wilds and had put two and two together. People loved to speculate on the nature of their relationship, especially given how often she'd visited him at the Keep.

"A ring is a significant gift," Ariane replied carefully, studying him. "In human cultures, does that not mean . . .?"

Aedan shook his head. "We're not married, if that's what you're asking." Though it wasn't like he hadn't asked her. Morrigan's reply had been that perhaps once she was safe from Flemeth, they could talk about it again. Until then, she'd said, she would simply be with him as often as she could. And he'd been willing to take whatever he could get with her, so he'd accepted that. But now he wondered if Morrigan had ever had any intention of tying herself to him permanently, or if her mother had just been an excuse. Another thing he would have to ask her, once he finally found her. "We are . . . together, though," he admitted at last, seeing that Ariane was still waiting for some kind of explanation. "Or . . . we were. I'm not sure what we are now."

Ariane nodded. "I suspected as much, given that you put yourself in such danger, just to find her. What will you do when you reach her?"

Aedan shrugged. He wasn't entirely sure himself. Kiss her? Throttle her? Both? All he knew for sure was . . . "I won't let her slip away from me again."

"We'll find her," Ariane said gently, seeming to understand what he'd meant. "You have my word. The ancient Eluvian will be our key."

Did he really look so despondent, so desperate to see her again that even someone who didn't know him that well could tell? Aedan wondered. He was usually much better at hiding his feelings than that. But then, it had been four months now since he'd last seen her, the longest he'd ever been without her since they met. It was likely that the separation was starting to wear on him more than he'd realized; he certainly felt miserable. "Thank you," he murmured, and Ariane simply nodded again.

Finn finally reached them at that point, panting. "Finally, there you two are!" Striker was bounding cheerfully at his side, as Aedan had ordered him to stick close to the mage if he fell behind. "You could wait for me, you know!"

"Or you could be faster," Ariane retorted.

"There's mud. And bugs," Finn grumbled.

Aedan smiled, thinking how different Finn's attitude at being away from the Circle was compared to Anders'. The contrast was like night and day. "Come on, let's go."

They made their way down into the underground ruins, a maze of twisting hallways and crumbled rooms, broken through with enormous tree roots and branches. The ruins were infested with shrieks and what looked like corrupted elves on the verge of becoming darkspawn, and they had to fight their way through both before they finally found the room where the broken Eluvian was.

It was an enormous mirror, suspended on an altar in the center of the room between two large statues of elves. The mirror itself, though, was shattered as Ariane had said; shards of glass lay everywhere around it, and some still clung to the mirror's back. Ariane went and picked up one of the larger shards, carefully wrapping it in cloth and storing it in her pack as Finn stared at the mirror.

"I can't believe this is one of the Eluvians," the mage said in awe. "It's magnificent . . . and broken. Mostly broken. We have the shard of the Eluvian, but we still need the lights of Arlathan. We should head to the Cadash Thaig when you're ready to leave," he added to Aedan.

Aedan merely nodded, looking around the room. He didn't know if he'd expected to find Morrigan here, looking for clues, but he felt vaguely disappointed and unsatisfied, nonetheless. "Let's go," he said at last, and they turned and headed back the way they'd come.

* * *

"I'm not sure I like the Deep Roads," Finn was saying as Aedan brought them to a halt at the top of a stone bridge over a month later. "Fewer darkspawn than expected, but it feels like we're being watched. Wait, why did we stop?" he asked, looking around. "Is this Cadash Thaig?"

Aedan nodded, looking ahead of them at the vast, underground hall that lay beyond the long, arched stone bridge. He could see immense stone statues of dwarves, crumbled remains of impressive buildings, and several more bridges in the distance beyond, as well as lanterns that still burned however many centuries later. "Yes, this should be it, according to the maps."

"Right. So, I've . . . er, been going through my old notes," Finn said hesitantly, glancing over at him.

"Just give me the basics," Aedan told him, knowing that if the mage went into detail like he was wont to do, he'd only end up understanding half of it.

Finn nodded. "Well, if the elves concealed the relics with magic, only the blood of their kin will reveal them. So, Ariane . . . we need your blood," he finished, turning to Ariane, who was behind them petting Striker.

She straightened up, glaring at Finn. "Excuse me?"

"Just a few drops, that's it!" Finn exclaimed, waving his hands.

Aedan frowned, studying the mage. "Is this blood magic?"

"Um . . . blood doesn't power the spell. It's just a component," Finn explained. "It's . . . certainly a grey area, so let's just keep this between the three of us, shall we?"

Striker barked at him, and Finn amended, "Four of us." He looked at Ariane again. "You share the same blood as the Arlathan elves, so you're the only one this enchantment might recognize."

Aedan thought it over, then shrugged. It wasn't like he hadn't made use of spells in the grey area himself before, and technically, even the Joining was a grey area. "Well, if it's the only way to find the lights, then I suppose we have no choice. As long as you're okay with it, Ariane."

She sighed, then nodded reluctantly. "Fine. A few drops."

"I'll . . . be gentle," Finn promised, before he drew a small dagger out of his pouch and used it to prick Ariane's finger, catching the drops of blood on his staff. He then turned to the underground hall ahead of them, chanting a spell, and blue light flew from the end of his staff, dispersing throughout the cavern.

"My spell will reveal vortices of magic," he explained, turning back to them when he was done. "Standing in them should allow us to see the energy being drawn to the relics, which will lead us to them. Once we reach the influence of the lights of Arlathan, Ariane's blood will unveil them. But we have to be close."

Aedan nodded. "Let's go find the lights, then." He led the way across the bridge, at the end of which they were promptly attacked by some shrieks.

The search through the thaig went much the same; they would find one of Finn's vortices, which would eventually lead them to one of the lights, which turned out to be actual lanterns, and then they would invariably be forced to fight either the guardians of the lights or more darkspawn. It took several hours of searching before they finally found all four of the lights that Finn said they needed for the scrying spell.

"There!" the mage declared when they'd defeated the last guardian of the last light. "We have the shard of the Eluvian, and the lights of Arlathan. Now all we have to do is scry for an unbroken mirror. I saw a suitable place for the ritual not too far from here."

He gestured them over to a large, open area in the midst of several ruined buildings, where he set up the lights and the broken shard. "Prepare yourself," Finn warned Aedan. "The ritual may attract . . . unwanted attention. You'll have to protect me. Let's hope this works."

Aedan nodded, drawing his sword and placing himself just slightly in front and to the left of Finn. Ariane stood to his right, and Striker placed himself in the center. Finn had put his back to one of the ruined buildings, so they fortunately only had to protect him from the front.

Soon enough, Finn was surrounded by a glowing blue light while he chanted, and shades were coming at him from all sides. Aedan swung and dodged and blocked and frantically tried to keep himself between the shades and Finn, noticing Ariane doing the same out of the corner of his eye. After what seemed like an hour, but was probably only a few minutes, the last of the shades was finally gone, and Aedan leaned on his sword, trying to catch his breath.

"Phew!" Finn exclaimed, coming up to them. "Am I bleeding? Oh look, a rip in my robe." He sat down promptly on the ground, looking rather green.

Ariane watched him with amusement as she sheathed her sword. "What happened to 'Ariane, give us your blood. Who cares if it hurts?'"

"It's my blood," Finn grumbled from the ground. "That's different."

"Did the ritual work?" Aedan asked, trying to keep the edge of impatience out of his voice as he finally caught his breath and sheathed his sword as well.

Finn nodded as he got to his feet again. "I've pinpointed another Eluvian. It's in the Dragonbone Wastes. The Tevinters probably moved it there to see if the ancient dragon bones could enhance the Eluvian's power."

"So, when we get there, what do we do with it?" Aedan demanded. The Dragonbone Wastes were at least another month's journey, and he had no idea what he would do if Morrigan – or a way to find her – wasn't at the end of that journey.

Finn shrugged. "We examine the mirror. It might give clues to what Morrigan's doing. If she's looking for the Eluvians as well, she might even be there."

"I hope you're right," Aedan muttered as they began to make their way out of the thaig. For if he didn't find Morrigan soon, he was afraid he just might lose his mind.

* * *

The Wastes had been more of the same; they'd had to battle their way through dragonlings, dragon cultists similar to the ones Aedan had once fought at Haven, and a varterral of all things before they'd finally been able to enter the ruins where Finn said the Eluvian was located.

The ruins brought them down below ground again, to an odd cavern full of ruined archways, pillars, and what almost looked like limbs growing out of the rocky ground. There was an underground lake, as well, through which a twisted, rocky pathway led up to a hill where they could see the Eluvian, at long last, and as they got closer, Aedan noticed a figure pacing back and forth in front of it. Was it – could it be -? His heart began to pound with anticipation as they got closer, and once they reached the end of the pathway, he could see he'd been right. It _was_ Morrigan, her back to them as she studied the mirror, still wearing the hooded cloak and heavy black skirt that she'd always favored.

"The Eluvian!" Finn exclaimed. "And it's . . . glowing? We should . . ."

He was cut off as Ariane put a hand to his chest, pushing him back and shaking her head. "I think she's . . .expecting you," Ariane said softly to Aedan, who felt suddenly frozen at the sight of Morrigan after so many months apart.

Striker, however, went racing right up the path, barking in delight, and Morrigan turned, kneeling down to greet him. "Wait here," Aedan said at last. "I need to talk to her alone."

Ariane nodded. "Ask her about our book!" she hissed after him as Aedan turned and slowly walked up the path towards Morrigan, reeling with conflicting emotions. He was confused, he was furious, he was miserable, and he was overjoyed to see her alive and well. And he had no idea where to begin.

She rose up from her crouch where she'd been petting Striker as he approached, and Striker bounded happily back to him. He'd just reached the bottom of the stairs leading up to the glowing purple Eluvian when she held up her hand to halt him, her expression unreadable. "No further, please. One more step and I leave. For good, this time."

"Why?!" he snarled, the fury suddenly overriding everything. "Why did you leave in the first place, without any word? I thought something had happened to you, that maybe you'd been hurt or killed and that was why you hadn't come back or sent word! And instead I find you here, alive and well! So why did you leave? Why did you break your promise to me?"

"I did not," she replied calmly, and that only made him more furious with her as she went on, "I told you I would be with you when I could manage it, when it was safe to do so, and it was no longer safe to do so. I did not say that I would always tell you where I was going and what I was doing. And my mother was getting closer; I could not risk her finding me or Kieran. I needed to find a way to keep him safe from her, and I have found it." She nodded at the Eluvian behind her. "This portal will let me keep him out of her reach."

He sighed, his fury with her slowly evaporating at her words. It was true she hadn't promised to always tell him where she was; he'd just assumed that she would. And if she'd done it all to protect Kieran, he supposed he couldn't fault her for that. "Still, why couldn't you have told me? I was worried sick about you, you know."

"I am sorry," she said quietly, and she did look truly regretful, he realized. "I could not chance my mother finding out what I was doing, and if you did not know, then you were in no danger from her. I should have known you would come to find me, however."

"Yes, you should have," he retorted, but his anger was finally mollified as he understood her reasons at long last. She'd been trying to protect him, believing that Flemeth would come after him if he'd known where she was. He didn't know if he would ever have actually been in any danger, but it was obvious Morrigan had thought he would be. "Do you really think all this was necessary, though? Flemeth said –"

"I know what she told you!" Morrigan cried, interrupting him. "And that was because I was wrong about what she wanted. I thought I knew what Flemeth planned. I thought what she craved was immortality. I was wrong, so very wrong. She is not even human. The ritual was but a means to an end, a herald for what is to come. 'Twas Kieran she wanted all along, not me."

"Where is he?" Aedan demanded, suddenly realizing that he didn't see their infant son anywhere. He'd been so caught up with finally seeing Morrigan that he hadn't immediately realized Kieran was not with her.

"He is safe," Morrigan reassured him gently. "Once I have determined what lies beyond the Eluvian, I will fetch him, keep him safe from my mother, and prepare him for what is to come."

"What is it? What's going to happen?" he asked, even as he made his way up the steps, overwhelmed with the need to hold her now that he was no longer furious with her. But just as he reached for her, she shook her head, stepping away from him.

"Please, do not," she said quietly, not meeting his eyes. He scowled, frustrated, but he stopped where he was as she went on, "Change is coming to the world. Many fear change, and will fight it with every fibre of their being. But sometimes change is what they need most. Sometimes, change is what sets them free."

"Don't talk in riddles," he snapped. That made her sound just like Flemeth, and he didn't like it.

"That is all I know of the matter, however," she replied with a shrug. "I do not know the details, only that there is much change coming."

"So is this change, this freedom, what you want?" he asked her softly. "Do you want to be free of me and all that we could have together? Is that the real reason you left without any word to me?"

She shook her head, looking suddenly more miserable and uncertain than he'd ever seen her. He reached for her again, unable to control the impulse, but again she stepped back, wrapping her arms around herself. "I left to protect you. I left because I love you. And what I want . . . is unimportant now."

"It is not," he disagreed with her. "Not to me."

She gave him a sad smile before turning to look at the Eluvian. "I cannot tarry longer. I only remained this long because I felt your approach. You still have the ring." Her smile widened as she looked back at him.

"Of course I still have it," he replied, exasperated. "I told you I would never take it off. It was a gift from the woman I love, after all."

This time, he moved too quickly to give her a chance to back away, grabbing her arm and hauling her against him. He claimed her mouth before she could protest, kissing her with all the miserable, aching longing he'd felt over the last several months, stroking his tongue against hers firmly, pressing her body tightly to his. She was stiff with surprise for a second, but that didn't last long; she soon melted against him with a moan, wrapping her arms around his neck and pressing her body more tightly to his as she met his passion with her own. He pulled back when he started to feel like he could no longer breathe, and met her eyes as he said breathlessly, "You're not leaving without me."

Her eyes went wide, and she shook her head rapidly. She tried to squirm out of his grasp, too, but he refused to let her go, and she soon gave up, leaning against him as she murmured, "You . . . . cannot know what you ask. You would have to give up everything, and everyone, and you might never be able to come back. And what about your Wardens?"

"They will be fine without me. Alistair has been commanding them in my absence the last few months, and I'm sure he's doing just fine. Better, certainly, than I would have been doing with my mind only on you." He was quite certain Alistair would do a great job of commanding the Wardens; he would never have left in the first place if he didn't think so. And Alistair had Ayla and the others to help; they would be fine. But if Aedan went back without Morrigan, he would not be fine, he knew. Not ever again. His world had been dark without her in it, these last few months, and he would not survive that again. "I want to be with you, and our son," he told her firmly, positive of the path he had chosen. If he was never able to come back, he would be fine, so long as he was with Morrigan and Kieran. "I don't care about anything else."

She stared at him for a long moment, searching his face as if to judge the truth of his words, before she smiled broadly, obviously seeing the conviction in his gaze. "Then come, my love. We will face the future together."

She pulled his mouth back down to hers, kissing him with a fiery passion that he eagerly responded to, curving his hand around her ass and pressing her hips into his, craving the friction. When he started to slide his hand beneath her skirt, though, she pulled back, pushing against his chest. "We should go. We will have time for that later."

She started to pull him towards the mirror, but he stopped her. "Just one minute. I am coming with you, but I have one thing to take care of quickly first. I promised Alistair I wouldn't just disappear, too, so I'll tell Ariane and Finn to take a message back to the Keep for me. Don't worry," he added hastily when he saw the expression on her face, "I won't say where we're going. Just that I found you and I'm not coming back. Alistair and Ayla will understand."

"Yes, I suppose they will," she said softly, looking a little sad again, and Aedan knew she was thinking of never seeing Ayla again. "Very well, then, give them your message, but make haste. The portal will not remain open for long."

He started to head back down to the others, before he quickly turned back. "What about the book you took from the Dalish?"

She gave him a wry smile. "I have already arranged for it to be returned to them."

"Good." He hurried back to where he had left Ariane and Finn, giving them the message to take to Alistair and Ayla, and thanking them for all their help before bidding them goodbye.

Once he was done, he went straight back to Morrigan, taking her hand in his as she turned towards the mirror, raising her other hand to it. The mirror began to ripple and swirl and she turned to look at him with a smile. "You are certain of this, my love?"

"I have never been more certain," he vowed to her. "My heart, as I have told you, is yours, and now my life is too. I am never letting you run away from me again."

She leaned up to kiss him quickly. "And I will never run from you again. Now, let us finally live our life together."

With that, she stepped through the mirror, drawing him through with her, Striker following them as they went to face their future together, at long last.


End file.
